Why Would Russians Hack Democrats?
The series of unflattering and damning E-mails released just before the 2016 Democratic National Convention, were hacked from a Democratic National Committee (DNC) server. A few weeks later, a hack of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) was released, containing personal contact information. Both incidents were widely blamed on hacking by Russians, particularly alluding to Russian intelligence. Considering the reasons for such hacking and the proclivities of Democrats, it makes little sense for the Russian government to engage in or sponsor these hacking incidents. So who hacked and why, and why the attempt to blame it on Russians?
There are multiple reasons to hack, but they generally fall into two categories. The first is to impede operations, either by hindering the function of information systems or causing loss of trust in their use. The second is to steal information, for which there can be many subsequent uses. In terms of politics and the affairs of nations, blackmail or extortion of the corrupt into committing acts of treason is an ancient ploy. Just as ancient is the use of stolen information to harm the character and effectiveness of a political adversary.
The hack of the DCCC falls into the first type: impedance of operations. The disclosed phone numbers and E-mail addresses were the 'secret' methods of contact between Democrats, their surrogates and agents of propaganda. All of the released contact points now receive hundreds of calls and thousands of messages per day from Joe Schmoe. Until new phone numbers, E-mail addresses and Cloud storage can be obtained and disseminated, coordination will be impaired between Democratic campaigns, left-wing advocacy groups, the DCCC and DNC, and their propagandists in the news media. How will CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, and others receive updates to the (also hacked) anti-Trump propaganda guide? This was a hack meant to temporarily harm the political efforts of Democrats and their allies.
The hack and release of the DNC E-mails falls into the second category: to harm the character of Democrats and reduce their political effectiveness. The E-mails revealed institutional racism, sexism and anti-Semitism within the DNC and shared among many top Democrats. The E-mails resulted in the transfer of DNC Chairman, Rep. Wasserman-Schultz, from the Clinton campaign-DNC to the Clinton campaign proper.
Both of these hacks may have been a form of extortion, in which a political adversary (Russia) threatens more harassment or damaging leaks unless elected Democrats yield to their demands. A tale of gallantry, where the vestiges of the "evil empire" see an enemy in the Democratic Party, and, by inference, an ally in Trump. This relies on us forgetting that such high levels of extortion require something that can be highly extorted, plus a strong desire to defend one's character. Democrats must have no desire or character, because this extortion apparently failed to harm them. As in most Democrat-involved scandals, if heads roll, they roll from one body to another.
Extortion also requires a reason. To date, the Democrats have been very good to Russia. With Obama's 'wait until November, comrade' moment, lack of action on their Ukrainian acquisition, lack of action in Syria, the Iran nuclear capitulation, Russia's purchase of the Clintons, and others, the Russians should be doing everything they can to keep Democrats in power, which has led some to believe in another possibility.
The Democrats could have released these documents themselves. A small amount of damage to make it appear as though a powerful enemy is against them and for Trump. That is a dangerous game. What if wavering supporters reassess their allegiance to the DNC or their disdain for Trump, to realize that it was all based on propaganda and coordinated slander? The people have increasingly tuned out reliable propagandists as dishonest, reducing control over the narrative. What happens when the leaked information picks up steam through alternative media? A minor wound becomes a raging infection; however, if such a wound was received, then spinning the Russian narrative is a plausible means to bandage it.
It seems dubious that the Russians had anything to do with leaks about Democrats, and we have well-founded hypotheses for the real perpetrators. An interview with Julian Assange provided hints that Seth Rich was the source of the DNC e-mail leaks: an inside job. Although Wikileaks has refused to verify their source, they have stated that it was not the Russians. The DCCC leaks came from a hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0, who dedicated and partially credited his hack to Guccifer. Recall that Guccifer, Marcel Lazar, a Romanian, claimed to have hacked the Clinton's private E-mail server. FBI director James Comey claimed that Lazar later admitted it was a lie; however, that was after Guccifer 2.0 hacked the DCCC. Some are uncertain if Guccifer 2.0 is a ruse, but he claims to have left false evidence implicating Russian intelligence. Meanwhile, other anti-Democratic hacks, like ones against George Soros's left-wing groups, were committed by other non-Russian hackers.
So why have the Democrats become the targets for multiple hackers and whistleblowers? Guccifer 2.0 tells us: hackers like challenges and notoriety, and have hero complexes. Lazar and others have revealed the methods by which Democrats, and the elite that support them, commit and record their crimes and conspiracies, and the vulnerabilities in those methods. Democrats (and some establishment Republicans) are highly hypocritical and conspire with the elite against the people, which adds a sense of justice to the efforts of hackers. As Guccifer 2.0 puts it, Trump has no skeletons to reveal (he is open and genuine), while the DNC, Clintons and other Democrats have closets bursting at the seams.
What hackers have revealed, and will continue to reveal, is a conglomeration of big banks, big businesses, big media and big government, all owned and controlled by the same people. They bend the ears and buy the loyalty of Democrats and establishment Republicans, to rig the system in their favor. For example, after bailing out financial institutions that were "too big to fail", government forced many smaller institutions to liquidate and merge with the big ones, creating ever fewer companies that have become too, too big to fail. The World is primed for yet another economic disaster, in which the elite who created it will once again be insulated from it with blood and sweat seized from the People, by their own government. If Trump is president, the insulation is gone and the elite will suffer the consequences of their short-sightedness and greed. The elite owns the mainstream media and establishment politicians, and so coordinates the anti-Trump propaganda. Even some supposedly right-wing media outlets are owned by the elite.
The conspiracy has been exposed. America desperately needs Trump, and the elite will do everything it can to stop him. Independent hackers really have become the underdogs fighting for justice, and the Democrats are the political wing of the villainous syndicate. Little wonder the aristocracy wants us to believe that these heroic hackers are actually Vladimir Putin's cyber-bullies. Yes, these hackers are heroic. The corrupt FBI and Department of (In)Justice that placed Hillary Clinton (and other Democrats) above the law will gleefully throw non-Democratic hackers into jail.